516 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1884. Time and place of Meeting. 



Auff. 13.— Northeastern Ky., at Covington. Ky. 



G. W. Cree. Sec. 



Ang. IH.— Decatur, at Greensburg, Ind. 



Uenry Carter. 



Au;. 19.— N.W. 111. & S.W. Wis. at I,. Highbarger's. 

 J. Stewart, Sec, Rock City. III. 



Sept.1,2.— W.N.Y.and N.VV.Pa.,at Jamestown. N.Y. 

 W. A. Sbewman. Sec. 



Sept. 1, 5.— Ohio State, at Columbus. O. 



C. M. Kingaburj^ Sec. 



Oct. 11, 12. —Northern Mich., at Alma, Mich. 

 F. A. Palmer, Sec, McBride, M'c 



Oct. 15, 16.— Northwestern, at Chicago, III. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. Sec. 



Nov. 25.— Western Mich., at Fremont, Mich. 



Geo. E. Hilton. Sec. 



Dec. 3.— Southeastern Mich., at Adrian. Mich. 



A. M. Gander, Sec. 



Dec. 10. 1 1.— Michigan State, at Lansing. 



H. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton. Mich. 



|y~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Ed. 



The Stinging Bees of India. 



The American Edition of tlie Lon- 

 don Lancet contains the following 

 account of the effects of severe sting- 

 ing by the large bee of India — the 

 Ajns Lidica. We do not think that 

 we want any of these bees in America. 

 The Cyprians are bad enough — but 

 for these bees of India [Apis Lidica), 

 as well as their more irrascible cousins 

 of Java (Apis dorsata) we have no use. 

 Let them stay where they are. Here 

 are the letters referred to : 



To the Editor of The Lancet.— As 

 stinging by bees, especially if very 

 severe, is an accident rarely met with, 

 I have tliought the followino; account 

 from my brother-in-law,Mr.Herklots,a 

 coffee planter on the Xeilgherry Hills, 

 South India, of severe bee-stings suf- 

 fered by himself, with the symptoms 

 that followed and the treatment 

 adopted, will be found by you to be 

 sufficiently instructive for insertion 

 in 2'he Lancet. You will see by the 

 account that the patient is still suffer- 

 ing from the effects of the stings. 



G. Hehklots Vos. M. R. C. S. Eng., 

 House-Surgeon, Tndnlng Hospital, Tottenham, N. 



"Coonoor, Madras, March 7, 1884. 



"About Sep. 24. last, I went out with 

 a friend to visit some property some 

 three miles distant. We went to a 

 steep hill-side to lay out a trace for a 

 new road. While the men were cut- 

 ting the track, or, rather, clearing the 

 bruslies away, my friend and I were 

 looking about to see which would be 

 the best line for the road. I took up 

 the staff, and went with it to a small 

 rock, when the overseer, who was by, 

 said, 'Sir, there are bees about.' I 

 did not perceive the force of this state- 

 ment at once ; but, to my surprise, I 

 found the coolies gliding away with 

 great caution and unusual rapidity, 

 and leaving me. The bees, which 

 were of a large variety (Ajns Lidica), 

 were now flying angrily about me, and 

 occasionally coming right at my face. 



I had let go the tracing staff, and lield 

 only a small riding cane. With this 

 I was soon actively engaged in hitting 

 at the bees. I probably knocked 

 down three or more of them with my 

 cane. This must have enraged them, 

 and I was soon made to feel the 

 effects of their venom. They settled 

 on the back of my hands and wrists, 

 and all over my "face, in every case 

 piercing me with their stings. Wild 

 with pain, I rushed to a bush, crept 

 under it, and covered my face with 

 my hands, coat- collar and hat as 

 much as possible, endeavoring to 

 remain motionless. I could not 

 endure this more than four or tive 

 minutes ; so I got up and climbed the 

 hill-side, at the top of which were a 

 plateau and a road. This was a very 

 steep climb of at least 1.50 feet, over 

 boulders and through jungle, witti 

 precipices ; so that I had to struggle 

 on through a regular maze, having 

 again and again to retrace my way. 

 All the time the bees were at me. I 

 was soon so much exhausted that I 

 could only move a few yards (eight or 

 ten) without having to stop for breath. 

 I had to use my hands as well as my 

 feet in making the ascent. Whenever 

 I stopped, the bees settled upon and 

 stung me more than when I was mov- 

 ing on ; my face was covered with 

 them, I had the sensation that they 

 were crawling on my face over each 

 other's backs, as if they were fully 

 two and three deep in number. They 

 made the most persistent efforts to 

 sting me in my eyes— that is, to force 

 their stings between my fast closed 

 eyelids ; but they stung my lips most, 

 and several went up my nostrils, and 

 more than once I had to eject them 

 from the latter place by a forcible 

 expiration, closing one nostril with a 

 finger. A'l this time my sufferings 

 were severe, and it was with the 

 greatest dfiiculty that I managed to 

 reach the road on the plateau. When 

 there, I had a plain path all the way 

 down the hill to where my pony was, 

 quite half, or, I should say. three- 

 quarters of a mile. I was then able 

 to protect my hands by placing thera 

 ill my pockets. From the time of 

 commencing to ascend the bill, I had 

 not retaliated on the bees. but. judg- 

 ing it the best policy, had allowed 

 them their way with ine. Soon after 

 I reached the plateau, as far as I can 

 say, about half an hour after the bees 

 had begun to sting me, I felt very ill. 

 I had sudden slight indications of rig- 

 ors, and felt very sick. But I had to 

 struggle on, and' get home somehow, 



I reached my pony, whichr is a spirit- 

 ed animal, and mounted him at once. 

 Tlie bees, though less in number, 

 were still at me ; and I imagined that 

 they would attack my pony, but they 

 did not. I took the sliortest route 

 home, a very bad cross-country tiack. 

 The bees followed me some distance. 

 and gradually left me. Soon after I 

 was in my saddle. I was vomiting very 

 severely, "though I did not bring up 

 much, and this was followed by severe 

 purging of the bowels, the faeces 

 being quite green. I felt very ill, and 

 had to hold on by the pommel of ray 

 saddle. I was retching all the way 

 home, and had two actions of the 



bowels. When I was able to open 

 my eyes I could see that my face was 

 covered with stubble, which I knew 

 were the stings of the bees ; I took 

 care not to touch them. On reaching 

 home, I went to my own room and 

 tlirew myself on the bed. 'The doctor 

 was then sent for. I continued to be 

 very sick and was constantly purged. 

 Ttie stings were extracted by my wife 

 and others, and for several days sub- 

 sequently the doctor found and ex- 

 tracted others. My wife tells me that 

 she thinks there must have been quite 

 ."00 stings taken out. Food was most 

 abhorrent to me, and for some nights 

 I could not sleep ; but within a week 

 I was up again, though very weak. 

 I have felt the results of this advent- 

 ure in weakened liealth for months 

 since, and have lately taken a short 

 sea trip to Calcutta fora change, since 

 wliicli I have somewhat improved in 

 health. The medical treatment con- 

 sisted of the removal of the stings, 

 and the external application of the 

 following— castor-oil one part, steel- 

 drops one part, collodion six parts ; 

 with the internal administration of 

 full doses of steel-drops (the affected 

 parts presented an erysipelatous 

 blush) minim doses of impecaeuanha 

 wine to relieve vomiting, solution of 

 morphia to relieve pain and to induce 

 sleep. When the morphia had the 

 former effect only, full doses of bro- 

 mide of potassium and hydrate of 

 chloral acted as efficient hypnotics." 



W One of the oldest Queen Breed- 

 ers in this country, writes tlius : 

 "Please stop our advertisement ; we 

 are getting more orders than we can 

 till." This shows the value of adver- 

 tising in the Bee Journal, for that 

 advertisement appeared in no other 



paper. 



. — ■ ^ » 



1^ Our rates for two or more 



copies of the book," Bees and Honey," 



may be found on the Book List on 



the second page of this paper. Also 



wholesale rates on all books wliere 



they are purchased " to sell again." 



The time for reading up will soon be 



here, and in anticipation of this, we 



now have a very large stock of books 



on hand, and can till orders for them 



in any quantity, on receipt of orders. 



1^- In the article on "Reversible 

 Frames," on page 488, in the second 

 paragraph and ninth line, read " in- 

 expensiveness" instead of '■'inexperi- 

 ence ,-" and in the next paragraph and 

 fourth line, read -'strengthen'' for 

 " straighten.'' 



^" Letters for publication must be 

 written on a separate piece of paper 

 from items of business. 



AdTertisenients intended for the Bbb 

 Journal must reach this office by 

 Saturday of the previous week. 



